Wood Books

This is an epic little tale that I really enjoyed for its stark simplicity. Good graphics and a fairly simple premise keeps this story clean and simple, with a few zingers thrown in for good measure.

There are plenty of graphic novels with zombies in them out there nowadays. A few are classic and deserve real attention while a few others are generally not all that special. This work certainly stands out as something unique and worthy of joining the collection of anyone who enjoys the undead critters.

I think the author came up with a simple concept and twisted it into a unique vision that, along with the artist's renderings, makes this a pretty intriguing piece. I look forward to seeing the next round as Amazon's join the battle.

The first time you hear it, "Zombies Vs. Robots" sounds like the name of one of those low budget 1950's Sci-Fi films, but there's nothing schlocky about this title from IDW Publishing. The book collects the two issue mini-series and adds a prequel story to go along with it, all in a handsome, oversized, hardcover edition. Ooohhh...don't you just love hardcover books...just makes it all seem that much classier!

A trio of scientists have created a gateway that will allow them to travel through time, but when the first scientist returns from his maiden trip as a puddle of bubbling goo, they decide to send robots through the gateway. But something goes terribly awry. Whether it was from the past or the future is unknown, but one of the robots brought back an infection which would doom the human race, turning them into bloodthirsty zombies, preying on the rest of humanity until humanity is no more...except for one tiny infant.

That infant is now in the hands of the robots. They act as her protectors and nannies, and plan to clone the baby in order to repopulate the world. The zombies, acting as a collective semi-intelligence have become aware of the baby's existence and they will stop at nothing to devour the last vestige of the human race. It's all out war as hordes of zombies take on armies of robots with the fate of the world in the balance.

Gosh...it even sounds like one of those old cheesy movies but this is one great book. Chris Ryall's story is filled with tongue-in-cheek humor. Some of the robots are more intelligent than others leading to some interesting observations about humans on their part, especially when they can't figure out why the baby is crying. I have become a big fan of Ashley Wood's art. The lines are thick and sketchy and features very liberal use of zip-a-tone to create shadows and texture as well as coloring. In this regard, the zip-a-tone gives the book a very retro look. To go along with the interior art, Wood provides several beautifully painted covers that are included in the cover gallery at the end of the book. Hey, I was sorry to see this book end, but I am excitedly waiting on the sequel: Amazons Vs. Zombies Vs. Robots!

REVIEWED BY TIM JANSON

A portal is invented. Science is involved. Egos get entangled. One person becomes nothing save memories in a bag and then the development of zombies and robots come into the fray.
Sound vague? Well, the read is too easily destroyed in too good of a compilation for me to say more on the bok directly.

When I first saw the title of the graphic novel, I wasn't sure if I was going to get it. Still, price and an interesting art style set things in motion and, looking back, I'm glad I picked up the ZvR. The story, while not chalked full of depth, did something I thought it would stumble on - it took the title of the book and gave it some substance, sidestepping glitches that bog down so many other tales. While only clocking in at around 70 pages (plus an archive of all the covers), the rendering of the tale and the odd size of the book were interestingly pleasant AND the lack of more pages actually helped. There was enough time spent on the characters, enough time spent explaining the set-up, and a nice mixture of humor and sci-fi qualities to keep me happy and to keep me from drifting.
Yummy.

One thing: Check out the art first and, if you like it, you'll know whether or not a book entitled "Zombies V Robots" is right for you. I thought it was something fun after processing it, not really a gorehouse grind but more of a shiny piece of "happy" found while plowing through the dullness of the daily grind.
Shiny and happy and zombies are always good to have.

Written accounts of solitary wilderness living show up every once in a while, and seem to have become especially popular after the Baby Boomers "discovered" Thoreau in the 1960s. His words still inspire a few folks to chuck their lives of quiet desperation and head for the hills to get away from it all. Some are successful, some are not. Many stay there only a year or two before the most pressing need -- the financial one -- forces them to return to civilization.

That's not the case with Thomas Rain Crowe, who spent four years (1978-1982) living alone in a cabin in the Smoky Mountains of western North Carolina. Crowe went back to his home state after living in a variety of places, doing a variety of work, communing with a variety of people. When given the opportunity to be the cabin tenant, he made the most of it. He worked hard to be self-sufficient, growing his own food and tending to his home and his tools. Others might have been bored in such a setting, but not him. He was always busy: gardening, fishing, taking care of his beehives, making homebrew, digging his root cellar, taking notes on the experience. And he regained the use of one his most valuable resources, the Southern Mountain speech of his childhood. He was downright satisfied with the situation.

His mentors in this effort were several local men who offered advice from time to time: Zoro Guice appeared in Yoda-like fashion whenever Crowe needed to learn how to perform a certain task. Walt Johnson was the scamp of the neighborhood, but was also an accomplished dowser who could find water every time. From these and other natives Crowe learned how to live close to the land, to live in the time of the seasons. The reader senses that Crowe would be living there still, if civilization hadn't encroached upon the property and changed it forever. That's when he knew he had to leave.

Not just a doer, Crowe is also a viewer -- a writer, a poet, a spiritual man who feels a strong connection to the natural world. His poetry uses simple words and turns of phrase to evoke powerful images. On the other hand, his prose, the narrative of his story, is the work of a learned and literate man. Complex constructs entice the reader to keep on going, to chew on the concepts and experiences offered. It takes time to digest these lines, and it's time well spent. Having witnessed Thomas Rain Crowe read some of this book aloud in person, I have the benefit of having heard the hint of the Smokies in his voice, the love for the place evident in every well-spoken syllable. No matter; it comes through in the typewritten text as well.

So was Thomas Wolfe right or wrong? Can you or can't you go home again? The reader decides. In the meantime, "Zoro's Field" should be placed on a shelf with the works of the old and new naturalists (Thoreau, Burroughs, Leopold, Carson, Eiseley, Bass) to one side, and the "Foxfire" books to the other. A thought-provoking addition to the environmental canon.

The local legend and mountain sage of the Appalachians of western North Carolina Zoro Guice told the author, "If a man goes out in the woods and just sits down in one place for long enough, all of nature and everything he needs to know will eventually pass before him like a parade." And so Crowe--poet, publisher, and recording artist--took up residence in the Appalachians for four years, and writes about the "parade." As in Thoreau's "Walden," Crowe writes about how he subsisted in the wild and what he learned from this. But moving somewhat beyond "Walden" in content and form, Crowe writes more about what goes on beyond himself; and some passages are in the form of verse. Not so meticulous or contained as "Walden," "Zoro's Field" reflects on modernity's effects on the tie with nature, environmental concerns, and changes which have come to the area. Though different in ways from Thoreau's classic which it cannot help but be compared with, Crowe's work in this same genre holds its own as an engaging, thought-inducing memoir.

More than a modern Walden, this is a book about intentional living. Crowe returns to home land in the southern mountains of North Carolina after living in Europe and northern California. Guided by principles of the Beat poets and philosophers, he embraces the traditions of sustenance, growing his own food, tending bees (honey for trade), making wine and beer. From his cabin beside the Green River gorge, he explores both terrain and history in celebration of a way of life that has been largely lost. The book is elegant and poetic. Crowe writes with an easy style, but critical intellect.

For those carvers who cannot get enough patterns for Christmas carvings, I wrote this book just for you. I designed it to be easy enough for a beginner to complete the project, and challenging enough for advanced carvers to add their own interpretations to the patterns. I have tried to provide as much information as possible regarding the type of tools to use, when to use them, and paint colors to use to finish the project.

For those carvers who cannot get enough patterns for Christmas carvings, I wrote this book just for you. I designed it to be easy enough for a beginner to complete the project, and challenging enough for advanced carvers to add their own interpretations to the patterns. I have tried to provide as much information as possible regarding the type of tools to use, when to use them, and paint colors to use to finish the project.

Excellent continuation of the first volume. This contains fine writing and atristry. This is not, however, for children.

In 24seven, Vol. 2, Ivan Brandon has once again gathered a wondeful stable of writers and artists from the comics biz who inhabit our very real world to weave tales about a city-world where robots are its inhabitants and robot sensibilities guide their lives. As before in Vol. 1, the list of contributors reads like a who's-who of talented, soon-to-be and established comic book illuminati who've been given free reign to their imaginations and in many instances, improve on the work that was done in the first offering.

In Vol. 1, the stories often used robots to provide insight as to what it means to be human. In that book, more than a handful of stories could have been played with human characters, but in Vol. 2, we're shown what it might be like to think and live more like robots and to understand a futuristic "robot-ness". By that, I don't mean stoic, unfeeling, homogeneous and mechanical. These robots have very human qualities and foibles but their existence and abilities (and foibles) are enhanced *because* they are robots. Their robot-ness is capably exploited in these stories as we see robots age, deal with broken relationships, become victims and participate in crimes, and very likely work through malfunctioning circuits.

It's easy to relate and equate the experiences of the mechs in these stories, but moreover, we're given more of an opportunity to imagine how we, as human types, could react to the human condition as robots. Losing your memory because of old age? Plug in and reboot from a back-up file. Feeling the loss of former lovers? Bolt on bits of metallic ephemera to your robot wings. Always wanted to be a dancer instead of say, a doctor (thereby disappointing your hopeful parents)? Submit to a kind of robotic genitoplasty to be the diva you've always dreamed of becoming.

And so on.

Some stories rise above the others as with any collected works of this nature, but there is well enough to please everyone. Writing and artistic styles vary from story to story, and that's the way it should be as we are provided a broad, imaginative vision from some very gifted human types.

I was wondering when I ordered this devotional if it would be another "cliche" devotional. I get weary of those. But this one pleasantly surprised me. I am not a typical outdoorsman, but more of an athletics lover, so was wondering if this would be irrelevant to my life inparticular, and only interesting to those who were avid outdoor sportsmen. I have a few friends who I was wanting to consider this book for for giftgiving. A few, just fishermen, a couple hunters, but most not so serious at it that they get out more than once a year. What I liked about this book is that the little vignettes for each day are so engaging. You don't ever have to have stepped outside your back yard to enjoy the stories and want for more than just a days worth in a sitting. I found myself thinking, ah, just one more story. I ended up ordering several for gifts, and reccommending many others to consider it as a purchase for their sportsmen, or actually, I know this is kind of tacky, for their "bathroom." It's a great bathroom read, except one can get carried away, with "just one more story" and your legs can go to sleep. I know, I know, TMI TMI TMI!!!!!!

Tyler Lebens, the author of 30 Days of Woods and Water has put together a wonderful combination of journaling, story telling and inspirational devotion that will minister to people in all walks of a spiritual journey. I would highly recommend this devotional journal to anyone who enjoys any activity in God's great outdoors.

I bought this book as a gift to a Chilean family I will be staying with this summer. I chose it because, other than captions, there is very little writing and because the pictures are gorgeous and varied. I liked it because it gave a good taste of New York -- yes, there is a picture of the Crystler Building, the statue of liberty, but there are also pictures of Dylan's Candy Bar, the Tiffany's on Fifth Avenue, etc.

I got this book for Christmas and it makes you wanna book a flight to the big apple right away !!

There's another 360° about London that is also very good.

A terrific book that features striking photographs of current PGA Tour players and players dating back to the mid-19th century. Extremely well-written and informative, this book really gives you an overview of golf history through the descriptions of the 50 greatest players and their importance to the game of golf. The book includes a great chapter on Tiger Wood's mental abilities.

The selection of the top 50 golfers is thought-provoking, particularly with Tiger Woods selected above Jack Nicklaus as No. 1. This book really does celebrate the greatest golfers in history and provides detailed information on each one. The chapters on Tiger and the Palmer/Player/Nicklaus era are extremely informative and well-written. The photography and graphic presentation are exceptional, from the modern color photos to some great black-and-white shots that date to the 19th century. A great addition to anyone's golf library, from the expert to the casual fan.

OK. Semi-political motivations aside, this is a good collection that deserves sales in keeping with any other compilation. There are some fantastic poems from both established and up-and-coming poets.

This will be one of the leading lit journals of the 21st century; smart, unobtrusive, and a great selection of artists.

"Advanced Wood Adhesives Technology" is a bible for some people who are engaged in wood adhesive and wood based panel. The book involves most kinds of resins that are used in wood industry. A. Pizzi's book is divided into eight sections and Urea Formaldehyde, Melamine Formaldehyde, Phenol Resin, Resorcinol Adhesive, Diisocyanate adhesive, Tannin and Lignin Based Wood adhesives are described respectively. Some of contents of the book are from author's researching results and experimental experience. It is very worth while reading Professor A. Pazzi's book. The book introduces and explains some methods how to test some adhesives' composition and vary specific parameters to obtain particular effects. Professor A. Pazzi's book also supplies some sets of formulas for the production of useful industrial adhesives. The book is a beneficial and indispensable reference for Forest Products Researchers and Scientists, Wood Adhesive Technologists, Graduate Students. The book has two chapters introducing the Renewable Adhesives, Lignin Based Wood Adhesives and Tannin Based Wood Adhesives, they may be friendly to environment. The author does not describe another popular renewable source adhesive, Protein Based Wood Adhesive.

"Advanced Wood Adhesives Technology" is a bible for some people who are engaged in wood adhesive and wood based panel. The book involves most kinds of resins that are used in wood industry. A. Pizzi's book is divided into eight sections and Urea Formaldehyde, Melamine Formaldehyde, Phenol Resin, Resorcinol Adhesive, Diisocyanate adhesive, Tannin and Lignin Based Wood adhesives are described respectively. Some of contents of the book are from author's researching results and experimental experience. It is very worth while reading Professor A. Pazzi's book. The book introduces and explains some methods how to test some adhesives' composition and vary specific parameters to obtain particular effects. Professor A. Pazzi's book also supplies some sets of formulas for the production of useful industrial adhesives. The book is a beneficial and indispensable reference for Forest Products Researchers and Scientists, Wood Adhesive Technologists, Graduate Students. The book has two chapters introducing the Renewable Adhesives, Lignin Based Wood Adhesives and Tannin Based Wood Adhesives, they may be friendly to environment. The author does not describe another popular renewable source adhesive, Protein Based Wood Adhesive.

It is rare that a book is both informative and entertaining, but this book fully fits that description. Frank grew up in post WWI europe and tells stories that also instruct. Frank is a master at coloring and finishing wood, whose life spanned 94 years. His advice is timeless, and the book, published in 1981, covers most finishing materials available today, as well as, finishing materials and methods that seem bygone now. Any woodworker will find this an incredible story.

This has been the most enjoyable woodworking book I have ever read. Mr. Frank's story makes fascinating reading, his knowledge of wood finishing is still amazing after eighteen years of "progress" since the publication of this book.

I don't know why Taunton has allowed it to fall out of print, but they need to bring it back.